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Hugh Ramopolo Masekela was born on 4 April 1939 in Witbank, near Johannesburg. Masekela showed musical ability from a young age, and began to play piano as a child. Inspired by the movie Young Man with a Horn, Masekela began to play the trumpet, encouraged by anti-apartheid activist Father Trevor Huddleston, who helped him acquire the instrument.
At Huddleston’s request, Masekela then received tuition in trumpet playing from Uncle Sauda, who played for the Johannesburg ‘Native’ Municipal Brass Band. Masekela soon mastered the trumpet, and began to play with other aspiring musicians in the Huddleston Jazz Band – South Africa’s first youth orchestra.
In his early days as a teenager on the South African music scene, Masekela played with artists such as Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim), Jonas Gwangwa and Kippie Moeketsi. Masekela also collaborated with famous icons like Miriam Makeba, Zimbabwean Dorothy Masuka, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Hedzoleh Soundz, Francis Fuster and Dudu Pukwana.
Masekela also formed an integral part of the orchestra for the South African Broadway-style musical King Kong, which was written by Todd Matshikiza. This took place after Masekela toured with the jazz band the Manhattan Brothers in 1958, and was even featured on London’s West End for two years.
Masekela was deeply affected by his life experiences, and therefore made music that reflected his experiences in the harsh political climate of South Africa during the 1950s and 1960s. Masekela’s music therefore portrays the struggles and joys of living in South Africa, and voiced protest against slavery and discrimination.
After the Sharpeville Massacre, Masekela was assisted by Huddleston and other international friends to study in America. Therefore, in 1961, Masekela went into exile. Masekela went to study at the London Guildhall School of Music, and later the Manhattan School of Music, where he befriended Harry Belafonte. The young Masekela immersed himself in the New York jazz scene where nightly he watched greats like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Mingus and Max Roach. Under the tutelage of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, Hugh was encouraged to develop his own unique style, feeding off African rather than American influences – his debut album, released in 1963, was entitled Trompette Africaine.
Hugh Masekela
the virtuoso has gone
music
FFlashmag February 2018 www.flashmag.net